ICC World Cup: Pakistani media slam Misbah & Co for loss

Karachi: Pakistan cricket team has come under criticism from the national media, which mourned yet another defeat to arch-rivals India in a World Cup game, saying "the writing was on the wall from the very beginning".

Misbah-ul-Haq

Pakistan on Sunday lost their sixth straight match to India in World Cup since the rivalry started way back in 1992.

Lahore-based national daily Daily Times headlined its piece 'Pakistan fail to break World Cup jinx against India'.

"As expected, Misbah-ul-Haq and his charges failed to break their World Cup jinx against India in Adelaide on Sunday. It was written on the wall from the very beginning but still many were hoping for a miracle. But miracles seldom happen," wrote Daily Times.

The headline in the Dawn newspaper said 'India preserve flawless World Cup record against Pakistan'.

Sarcasm"In what was an important game for both teams, India ticked all the right boxes at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday to ensure they preserved their flawless record against fierce rivals Pakistan in World Cups," wrote the Dawn.

In another piece in Dawn, a sarcastic comment made in the article said: "Hey, what's an India-Pakistan World Cup match without a man named Akmal messing opportunities behind the stumps, right?"

Meanwhile, local media quoted former Pakistan great Javed Miandad from an ICC column called 'Mindboggling experimentation' where he wrote that "in big cricket matches, a team fields its best playing XI and does not experiment.

"It was nothing but a mindboggling team selection that shocked millions of its fans around the world. What's the science behind promoting Younis Khan as an opener?

What's the logic of leaving out a specialist wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed when he could also bat aggressively? It was like pushing the panic button before the start of an all-important event like the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015," wrote Miandad.